Arcane Journey

Chapter 382 The Ruins of Glory City

"That's right." Mage Laurian, who deliberately kept a distance from Prince Shade, said to Brian, "I'm planning to use the magic light curtain to purify the negative energy released by Felin's magic sunflower."

"Since it is for purification, why not purify the source of negative energy." Breners asked puzzled, "Instead of purifying in the middle, even if you completely purify the energy here, you will eventually let the energy from the source flow Come here and continue to invade your valley."

Brian also nodded secretly, agreeing with the Prince of Shadows.

Elder Elder's method is indeed a bit of a temporary solution, not a permanent cure.

This is the same as pulling a knife to cut off the water and make it flow again. Only by cutting off the water at the source can the negative energy that erodes the Evereska Valley be completely eliminated.

However, in the face of this question, he did not ask as stupidly as Breners.

Because he believed that a powerful elf mage like Laurian could not understand such a simple truth, and there must be his purpose in doing so.

"What do you know?" Sure enough, Mage Laurian snorted coldly, and said without giving Prince Shadow any good looks:
"Only by breaking the connection between the source and Efriska's negative energy, can the twelve peaks in our elf territory responsible for guiding the mystical enchantment exert their greatest power without any scruples, so I will There is a chance to guide this energy, go to the source, and wipe it out."

"So that's how it is." Brian glanced at the Elder Elder in surprise, he didn't expect the other party to engage in such a big battle here.

Isn't this equivalent to mastering the power of twelve wizard towers at once, which is more than enough to deal with an elder-level Felin Mokui.

"So..." He looked into the depths of the passage shrouded in magic mist, pondered for a moment, and finally expressed his inner doubts, "This passage also leads to the hiding place of Felin Mokui."

"I'm surprised by this." Having said that, Brian looked at Mage Laurian in puzzlement:
"I learned from Lord Ilsevery, the wearer of the crown, that the Evereska Valley where Master Laurian lives is known as the 'last sanctuary of the elves'. The powerful mystical enchantment makes the territory feel like a paradise It disappeared from the sight of the world forever, at least I couldn't see any clues before I entered the mist, so why are there so many passages leading to other areas..."

In order to save some face for the elf elder, he didn't say the next sentence, "Are you all elves asleep? Even your own yard was almost dug through, and you didn't notice so many secret passages. What else?" What qualifies as the last refuge? '

Even if Brian didn't ask directly, the Elf Elder couldn't help but blushed in embarrassment after hearing it, and then explained to him with evasive eyes:
"Your Excellency does not know that this place is the resting place of my elf ancestors. No one is allowed to trespass without authorization. We never thought that the enemy would dare to start here."

He glanced at the ghost prince who was laughing secretly, and continued:
"Naturally, I didn't pay much attention to this place. That's why I gave this group of daring thieves an opportunity to take advantage of it. Through the devouring magic of Felin Mokui, they quietly corrupted the mystical barrier."

Only ghosts will believe this.

Brenners glanced suspiciously at the Elf Elder, thinking to himself.

Although he knew well that the elf elder was mocking him again, he didn't speak out to refute it.

After all, after I accidentally came to the cemetery of elves, as a file scholar, out of professional habits, I did plan to study the uniqueness of this ancient cemetery of elves.

Who would have thought that before he put his thoughts into action, he would be overwhelmed by the opponent's overwhelming magic. If he hadn't reacted in time, even if he didn't die, he might be seriously injured.

In this regard, Breners can only secretly congratulate himself for his good luck.

If he was noticed by this mage when he just opened an elf tomb, then the misunderstanding would be deep.

"Then do you know about Ogasila the Crazy?" Bryan asked again after recollecting the Elf Elder's words.

Obviously, he didn't believe the old elf's unilateral explanation either. He always felt that the other party was deliberately concealing something and not telling himself the truth.

In any case, this place is the burial place of the Evereska elves, and it is also regarded as a forbidden place that no one can easily set foot in. How could it not be shrouded in the scope of the Mystic Barrier?

You must know that any intelligent race attaches great importance to the burial place of the dead, even the elves who claim to be able to return to the beautiful country of Avandor after death are no exception.

How could they not even know the purpose of their ancestors was dug through? If their ancestors knew that their descendants treated their funeral in this way in the country of Avando, they might have to leave Avando on the spot, lift the coffin board, Teach this group of unworthy descendants a lesson.

Therefore, he thought there must be something hidden in it, and it even had something to do with the crazy Ogasila.

After all, he personally heard from the Elder Dakasang of the Tower of Windsong that the place where Orgasila escaped was Efriska, so he connected the two things together and took the opportunity to ask Mage Laurian about it. .

Faced with Brian's question, Master Laurian was reluctant to answer at first.

But when he thought about the crisis that Evereska was facing and the help he needed, he was silent for a long time, finally sighed helplessly, and chose to tell the truth.

"If my predictions are correct, Your Excellency Brian must have guessed something." Mage Laurian said slowly, "That's right, the passage here is indeed related to the crazy Orgasila."

"In the year when the tomb was destroyed, a group of dwarves of the Shield clan living in the Comanthor mountain area completely disregarded the long-term ban of our elves, and dug a deep tunnel under the ground of Myth Drannor, and these dwarves were restricted. The excavation of the area also directly led to the collapse of some almost forgotten tombs, most of which belonged to certain ancient or long-lost families. Drono."

He restrained the lavender magic halo shining around him, and told everyone:
"Ms. Ogasila found the "Black Forbidden Book" in the tunnel dug by the dwarves. She disregarded the warnings of the Windsong Tower Council of Elders and resolutely chose to translate this evil book, which not only predicted the black book. Chronicle, also personally completed a book called "A Night of Thousand Petals", revealing a series of conspiracies of the lost lady Shar against the goddess of magic Mystra in the future."

"What about her?" Brenners couldn't help asking, "Have you read "A Night with a Thousand Petals" written by Ogasilla?"

Brian remained silent, because the story the elf mage just told was basically consistent with his own guess, and the next content was what he was interested in.

Facing Prince Shadow's inquiry, Mage Laurian didn't even bother to look at him, and continued:

"Miss Lost, as a lady who keeps secrets, how can she allow mortals in the material world to spread her secrets. Besides, how can the power of the gods be blasphemed by us and other mortals at will? After translating "Black Forbidden Book" "Afterwards, she was cursed by the imprint of this book by the Lost Lady, causing her to suffer terrible injuries and fall into a state of madness that almost lost her mind."

"Ms. Ogasila tried to commit suicide to end her fate of being driven mad by the curse, but what made her desperate was that the curse could not be lifted by suicide alone, and the priests of the Seldarine gods could not save her. Polluted her soul like tarsal maggots, making her unable to live or die, because every attempt ended in failure, as if she was born to bear this curse, perhaps forever."

"Unavoidable, she came to us through the surviving rationality." Mage Laurela glanced at the two of them and continued, "It is said that during the time she was cursed, she was still strong by people. With the power of will, I discovered the ruins of an ancient floating city from countless long histories and obscure dark knowledge."

Hearing the ruins of the floating city, Brian and Brenas, the two people who eat melons, cheered up and pricked up their ears at the same time. They were obviously very interested in the ruins of the Netheril period.

"Is there a way to rescue Ms. Ogasila's curse in the ruins of the floating city?" Brian was the first to ask out his doubts.

"I'm not too sure about this." Master Laurian shook his head, thought for a moment, and said:
"I only know that Ms. Ogasila briefly mentioned it to me before she left. She said that the ruins of the floating city were located in the largest temple of the sun god Amanata in the Netheril period. She tried to get from this temple. The remaining divine power of the sun god was found in the ruins, and with the power of light, purify the dark curse of the lost lady."

Hearing this, Brian turned his gaze to Breners beside him.

As a survivor of the Netheril period, he should know the floating city best.

"This floating city is called Guangyao City, and it is also the city of faith of the sun god Amanata."

Brenas didn't disappoint him, just blinked his eyes a few times, and recalled the name and general information of the floating city:

"Its owner is Ellando, the great arcanist. He is not only one of the few great arcanists in the field of creation, but also the most devout believer of the sun god Amaunata."

"As for other detailed information, I don't know much about it." Breners shrugged helplessly and said with a smile:
"Because it is the highest-rising floating city among all the floating cities, and it is also the floating city closest to the sun. People like us who study shadow magic are the least favored by Sun God priests."

"So, Guangyao City is also the floating city that suffered the worst fall, right?" Hearing this, Brian's expression changed, and he made a joke as if unintentionally.

As far as he knew, although Karthus cast the twelve-ring spell of conferring the gods, causing the Netheril Empire to perish, there were also a few of them that were restored by divine power before they fell to the ground because they flew too high. Mystra, the second-generation goddess of magic, caught it and landed safely on the ground.

The cities taken over by the goddess of magic are Noria, Ellens and Harendas, which have long been buried under the wind and sand of the Enook desert.

Brenas claimed that Guangyao City was the highest floating city, why wasn't it caught by the goddess of magic?
From this, it can be seen that the demise of Netheril probably contained many terrifying conspiracies.

Because with the demise of Netheril, the sun god Amaunata, who possessed powerful divine power, finally fell as a result.

You know, Amagnatar, the sun god, was one of the greatest gods in the ancient Netheril era.

He even has the right to judge whether the actions of the gods in the pantheon are negligent because of the priesthood of the law. He can be said to be the first god under the god of gods 'Io'.

But it was such a powerful god who inexplicably fell after Karthus released the god-conferring technique.

As for how the sun god Amanata fell.

One of the most accepted accounts is that when Netheril fell, Amaunator's base of worshipers narrowed to the lower and middle classes of Netheril.

In the end, these people also voluntarily gave up his faith.

They believed that Amaunator acted like a distant bystander during the disaster in Netheril, cold and heartless, and deliberately did nothing to prevent the disaster.

Research by many scholars has shown that those who have given up their belief in the sun god are correct.

Because the reason why Amaunata was indifferent was that when Netheril was destroyed, he was in the lawful neutral camp, so he had no legal basis to save the Netherilians.

According to the sacred contract, magic is the domain of the first generation goddess Mysrael.

He has no right to infringe and interfere, and can only be an indifferent crowd eating melons, watching his followers disappear one by one like dumplings.

Thus, as the base of Amaunator's worshipers disappeared, his faith continued to shrink over time.

Gradually, he descended from a position of powerful divine power to weak divine power.

In the end, due to his inability to maintain his sacred domain, he fell and became a corpse in the astral world.

And his priesthood was basically divided among the three mountains of the lawful camp of Tire (strong divine power), Heim (medium divine power), and Tom (weak divine power).

What's interesting is that, as another powerful god, Lathander, the Lord of Dawn, is known as the other side of the sun god Amaunata.

In Losander's priesthood, there is no such thing as the sun.

I'm afraid this is why Shar, the goddess of the night, is so powerful, because in the domain of the gods, there is no sun priesthood to interfere with the darkness.

"I'm not sure about that." Facing Bryan's ridicule, Breners shook his head.

Brian, who came back to his senses, looked at Mage Laurel again, and said his guess:
"So, in order for Ms. Ogasila to purify her own curse, you violated the rules of the elves and allowed her to break into the tomb where the ancestors are buried without authorization, am I right?"

"Your guess is correct. When I learned from Ms. Ogasila that the location of the fall of Guangyao City may be in the deepest part of the tomb passage, I opened the door for her." Mage Laurian admitted frankly, What was revealed on the old face was not remorse, but regret and regret:
"I didn't expect that she not only failed to get rid of the curse of the Lost Lady, but also attracted the Felin Mokui, which brought unimaginable disasters to Evereska. I really..."

"This is the end of the matter, now is not the time to feel sorry for your life, Master Laurian." After understanding the ins and outs of the whole incident, Brian interrupted the elf mage's words, and said calmly:
"What we need to do right now is to find the crazy Ogasila as soon as possible, and eliminate the Felin Mokui that emits devouring magic energy, and return you Evereska elves to a peaceful and stable shelter."

Then you can continue to hide here and lie flat, Brian thought, of course, he didn't say this complaint.

"Lead the way." He motioned.

Mage Laurilla calmed down, and the lavender magic halo enveloped his body again, and began to actively lead the way for Brian and the two to the place where Guangyao City fell.

In the dark tombs, under the light of the lavender magic halo, Brian and the others walked in silence, without encountering any danger along the way, only the slight echo of footsteps.

"boom!"

Suddenly, Breners, the Prince of Shadow, who was in a trance while looking at the elven tombs, seemed to have kicked a slanted tombstone, and was caught off guard and almost fell to the ground.

"Huh?" Then, he swept his eyes away, and after a closer inspection, he vaguely saw a weapon half-hidden in the soil. It looked like a two-handed long sword. It was exquisitely shaped, and its lines were full of the artistic sense of ancient elves.

He was about to pick it up for inspection, but suddenly felt that the elf mage leading the way cast a pair of angry eyes on him, and he could only look at it regretfully, and continued to follow the pace of the two.

In fact, as an archivist, he was still very interested in the burial chambers of elves.

Moreover, the tombs of the elves from the Crown War period are still preserved here. If you can dig two and study them carefully, you may be able to learn about the long history of the elves defeating the dragon.

"Boy, I warn you!" The elf mage, who was still a little uneasy, said coldly to Prince Yinhun, "This cemetery has been burying my elves since the end of the Fifth Crown War. If you dare to attack here If you want to, I will let you come and go."

"I see, you don't need to remind me." Breners looked back with regret, and replied.

Obviously, although he really wanted to turn over every cemetery and inspect it, he also knew the consequences of doing so, and naturally he would not lose the big because of small things. Then he looked at the elf mage and retorted:

"By the way, I would like to remind you that you'd better not call me a kid. After all, you may not be as old as a fraction of me. You can't be too anxious just because of your appearance, just 'reliance' in front of me, don't you Embarrassed?"

"Not at all, because at least I am more pleasing to the eye than an old monster like you who likes to pretend to be tender." Mage Laurian snapped at him angrily, making the 'young' ghost prince shut up unable to refute. .

But Brian ignored the two of them, because his gaze was already attracted by the undead creatures that gradually appeared in front of him, as well as the juvenile Felin Mokui.

There are wandering monsters around, which means that they are about to reach the destination of this trip.

These weak monsters did not pose any threat to the three legendary spellcasters at all, and they could be easily wiped out with simple low-level spells.

After about half an hour, the three of them finally made a way out and came near the ruins.

However, to Brian's disappointment, the ruins didn't have any architectural shape at all. All that appeared in front of his eyes were broken bricks and broken stone pillars.

This scene full of vicissitudes seemed to prove to him that this place was probably the ruins of a floating city.

So, under the leadership of the elf mage, they cautiously and cautiously entered a passage that seemed to collapse at any moment.

The entire entrance is slightly tilted, as if it had been displaced in an earthquake or suffered some other massive trauma.

After passing through the passage without any risk, a wide square opened outside the porch, its marble floor was full of cracks, and a pile of rubble stood on the square.

Numerous stone pillars carved with exquisite patterns broke or collapsed on the ground, proving that this was once an important circular corridor.

The moment Bryan stepped into the underground plaza, he felt a strong chaotic energy rushing towards his face, making his Chaos Scholar's professional characteristics active involuntarily.

On the contrary, Brenners and Mage Laurian seemed to have suffered a magical backlash, and their expressions became a little ugly. It was not until the elf mage gradually exaggerated the energy of the lavender magic halo around him that he felt much better.

Then, the three of them looked at each other and walked towards the place where the chaotic energy was the strongest without hesitation.

After a while, they came to the end of the square, in front of a ruin piled up like a mountain of broken bricks and rubble.

At the center of the hill stands a tall golden tower that is still intact.

The three walked cautiously to the front of the tower.

The hollow columns of the tower had descended into deep darkness, and a waterfall fell from a break in the north side of the tower into the dark abyss below, raising a cloud of mist and spray.

The inner floors of the tower have disappeared to form this empty cylindrical shaft.

But below, they can be seen growing masses of smooth moss and vines from their crumbling edges, thriving in the moist environment.

"What's that?" Brenners suddenly saw two glowing spheres in the shimmering flora, and asked subconsciously.

Brian also looked over, and after careful observation, he found that the two energy spheres with a diameter of about half a meter were gold and lavender respectively, connected by a crackling dark purple energy thread.

A dizzying vortex floated in the center of the dark purple energy sphere, like the mouth of an abyssal behemoth, trying to devour the golden sphere, but always failed.

"I remembered." Brenners, who was deep in thought, suddenly said with a little excitement: "This is the secret energy core of Guangyao City. If I expect it to be correct, this tower should be the energy center of the floating city. .”

"Then why is this Miser core so small?" Brian asked aloud.

"That's because the source of power for Glory City is the divine power of the sun god Amaunata." Brenners replied, "Centuries ago, although the energy from the deep magic web only played an auxiliary role, it was also an indispensable existence. , which is also the reason why the Misser energy core has not been damaged yet."

"That is to say, there should still be a sliver of the divine power of the sun god Amaunata in this secret energy core." Brian said his guess.

"It should be for this reason." Master Laurian nodded thoughtfully, and continued:

"Otherwise, why Ms. Ogasila is looking for Guangyao City is very likely to get rid of the curse of darkness for herself with the help of the divine power of the Mithr energy core."

"Obviously, her plan should have failed." Brian frowned. At this moment, he felt that the source of the chaotic energy was the lavender light ball in the tower well.

And this ball of light is trying every means to devour the magical Miser energy core.

"No failure!"

Suddenly, a cold voice came from the depths of the tower well, startling everyone to cast spells and float in mid-air, keeping a distance from the tower while observing the situation inside.

At this moment, everyone saw that the lavender ball of light collected the crackling threads, then floated out of it, flickered slightly, and turned into a black teardrop-shaped creature at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It had three smooth, eyeless heads, and two huge dead-twig arms that stretched out from either side of its body, and one that grew from its back.

Each arm torso supports three smaller arms equipped with clawed, three-fingered hands.

Each of the nine small hands is covered with many small eyes.

The central head seemed to stare at them with eyeless eyes.

I saw its big mouth with teeth suddenly opened, and it roared like crazy.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the head seems to change—the snarling head is relegated to a secondary position while another takes center stage.

The dominant head said in a cold female voice: "Laurian, the dark fortuneteller knows why you came. You violated the rules of the Evrisca elves to live in seclusion, so you are destined to make the whole world suffer." The ethnic group paid a heavy price!"

"Are you Ms. Ogasila?" Hearing the familiar voice, Master Laurian was shocked, and asked incredulously, "Why did you become like this?"

"It's not!" Before the monster could speak, Brian said calmly, "It's the combination of the madman and the Felin Mokui."

"That's right, just as you said." The third head of the monster took the dominant position, and said with a sneer:
"That stupid elf tried to fight against us Felin Mokui. This is the price she paid. Now I am only one step away from devouring the mystical enchantment of the Evereska Valley, and that is to wait patiently for you! Come, and then let you meet your own tragic fate!"

As soon as the words fell, all the eyes on the monster's sharp claws spewed out strange dark purple energy, and then the energy condensed together, turning into a rapidly rotating vortex with a diameter of about one meter, frantically devouring the free magical energy in the air.

In an instant, Brian noticed that the magic energy in the air had become thinner, and even the lavender magic light curtain around Mage Laurian's body had dimmed a lot because of this.

"This is the attack method that Felin Mokui is best at: the spell vortex, everyone be careful!" Brenas immediately reminded with a solemn expression when he saw the spell released by the monster:

"It will continuously absorb our magical energy until it can't cast a single spell. Let's make a quick decision, and we must not drag it on like this."

"Quick battle?" Felin Mokui's ugly, chrysanthemum-like mouth showed a disdainful sneer, "Little Ghost Prince, your thoughts are so naive, today I will replace the Lost Lady Shar, starting from you , help her clean up the last remnants of Netheril..."

"Then proceed according to the original plan." Brian didn't bother to pay attention to the trash-talking Felin Mokui, took out his staff calmly, and stared straight ahead at the monster whose head was changing again.

During the process of going to the ruins of Guangyao City, they had made a plan in advance against Felin Mokui. Although the scene in front of them was somewhat different from the plan, there was basically no change.

Hearing this, the two nodded at the same time.

Mage Laurian immediately retreated behind them, held his breath, and began to use his thoughts to connect the twelve peaks of the Evereska Valley, so as to mobilize more energy.

In an instant, the halo of lavender magic that shone around him began to gradually expand.

And Brenas summoned two ultra-small constructs, let them surround his body, and each shone with light representing divine and arcane energy.

Although he didn't take the initiative to make a move, he watched the monster's every move with a vigilant expression.

Brian launched his attack without hesitation.

——"Acanon Storm!"

——"Arcane Sequence!"

——"Arcane Master!"

——"Secondary Magic Matrix!"

——"Mayoufu Meteor Swarm!"

…………

Accompanied by an invisible gust of wind blowing up in this square full of ruins, in the blink of an eye, the energy condensed from the chaos of the four major elemental planes spewed out like a wild horse running wild, interweaving a howling arcane storm , and swept towards the far-away Felin Mokui.

Immediately afterwards, fist-sized bolides, trailing slender tail flames, enveloped each other densely.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

All of a sudden, slices of gorgeous magic flames and surging arcane storms were intertwined on the temporary shield of the secret magic that the Felin Mokui temporarily propped up, and violent tremors erupted.

At the same time, the spell vortex summoned by Felin Mokui suddenly doubled in size, swallowing all the spells he released like a whale drinking from a cow.

The gorgeous magic flames dissipated, and Ferrin Mokui, with a lavender shield shining all over his body, appeared in front of Brian and the others safe and sound. On the head where the primary and secondary positions were replaced again, although there were no eyes, it made people feel as if they were full of Mocking malevolence.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Brian also felt a little unbelievable. He didn't expect his best attack to be resolved so easily.

Although his original purpose was to test the other party's reality, seeing the effect made him feel a little depressed.

However, he was not depressed because of this, but directly sacrificed his own Austrian fire, and began to face up to this terrifying opponent in front of him.

After all, the task of him and Brenas is to drag each other down, and the real ultimate move still depends on the huge energy transferred from the twelve mountain peaks by Mage Laurian.

Just when Bryan sacrificed the blue and white flames of the Austrian Fire, the Felin Mokui on the opposite side couldn't help exclaiming after noticing it: "It's so rich in energy! Could it be the Silver Fire? No, it's The curse fire is not right, the curse fire is red, what the hell is this?"

"No matter what it is!" Another head grabbed the position, greedily and eagerly said:

"In short, the energy contained in this flame is countless times more precious than the divine power contained in the secret energy core. I have a hunch that as long as it is swallowed, our strength will not only return to its peak state immediately, but even Elevate to a new level, and then have more right to speak in the Memory Tower!"

"Then what are you waiting for, act quickly!"

After finishing speaking, Felin Mokui directly retracted the head that had been guarding against Mage Laurian from the beginning to the end, and began to attack Brian almost crazily.

——"Spell Fang!"

——"Magic Cone!"

——"Kiriya!"

Accompanied by the small eyes on Felin Mokui's paws, various flickering lights flashed.

Hazy tentacles full of sharp fangs, like long whips coming through the air, cone-shaped energy bodies condensed from pure magical energy, and countless clusters of tears made of cloud-like steam Shaped flying objects, mixed together, turned into a wave-like energy cloud, tumbling and surging towards Brian.

Faced with this situation, Breners manipulated the two ultra-small constructs around him, propped up a golden-blue shield made of two energies intertwined, divine and arcane, and actively blocked Brian in front of.

The moment Felin Mokui's overwhelming spells landed on the shield around Prince Shade, he immediately felt a surge of terrifying corrosive energy, which devoured the energy of the shield at a speed visible to the naked eye, so that he had to go crazy Infuse mana into the shield to resist the onslaught.

"Are you stabbing a bumblebee's nest?" Brenners smiled wryly at Brian while resisting the magic attack of Felin Mokui, "This is simply an attack that loses its mind."

"It can be seen from this..." Brian looked at the crazy-looking Felin Mokui, and said his guess:

"Although this Elder Mokui devoured the soul of the crazy Ogasila and strengthened his own strength, he also inherited the crazy curse that the Lost Lady cast on Ogasila. Much easier."

"You hold on for a while, I have found a way to deal with it."

As soon as the words fell, the corner of the mouth of Feilin Mokui's third head evoked a sneer of disdain.

I saw it waving its sharp claws on its back, and an energy sword wrapped in pale flames floated above Brian out of thin air, and slashed head-on without warning.

Felin Mokui's energy whip came extremely quickly, obviously premeditated, so that even the ghost prince Brenners hadn't reacted, and Brian's body was completely split in two.

"Ok?"

But the Felin Mokui, who succeeded in the blow, was slightly taken aback, as if proving its inner doubts, Brian's body immediately turned into a thick mass of darkness, spreading across the battlefield.

Immediately afterwards, in the pervasive mist, suddenly several black shadows flashed past.

(End of this chapter)